A Proper Tribute

Seriously? The guy sits in front of a H U G E portrait of himself? Just a bit on the grandiose side, eh?

Normally, I would not speak ill of the dead - but honestly I have nothing positive to say about this man. Oh sure, you could say that he has helped many people get on the "right track" (pun intended) with their lives... but at what cost?

Jerry Falwell was a bigoted, homophobic, polarizing figure in both American religion and politics. In fact, I would give him credit for knocking down the wall (or at least punching holes in it) between Church and State. And that is NOT a good thing - contrary to many so-called-conservative-idealists. This guy basically got Bush-the-latter elected with his "evangelical voter" turnout.

I wrote a short opinion paper in college (between my beer bongs and jell-o shots) regarding Falwell's condemnation of "Tinky-Winky", the purple-clad... thing on the Teletubbies children's program. Yes, that's right folks - our man Falwell attacked a British children's program - warning parents that Tinky-Winky was secretly gay and morally dangerous to children. In his twisted logic, Falwell saw the purple color (sooooo gay) and the upside-down triangle (a symbol for gay rights) as obvious subliminal messages to children to become gay (please note the sarcasm). Oh, and the purse...

Ugh. Give me a break.

BUT, all absurd "controversies" aside, Falwell said some really bad stuff too. After the September 11th attacks in 2001, Jerry whipped out this gem:'

I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say, 'you helped this happen'.

YIKES. You see, what bothers me the most about this guy is that he claimed to be a man of God. Now, I may not be the most religious person around (I can assure you that I'm not), but I was raised in a church and remember that the lessons we were taught in Sunday School were based on values of tolerance, understanding, and most of all - LOVE. What is Christianity (any denomination) without LOVE. All you need is LOVE.

I would say that Reverend Falwell kinda missed the boat on the whole subject of LOVE.

Now, all of that said - I'm not sure that I would be attending an anti-memorial for Jerry. I can totally understand why folks would want to dance with joy at the news of his passing, but I think that may be taking the whole bit a little too far. My way of "anti-memorializing" Falwell is just this: a simple blog post.

May the Reverend Dr. Jerry Falwell not be forgotten... but not for any good reason. He should be remembered as an example of how NOT to treat your fellow man. He should be remembered for his inability to LOVE.

Love everyone.

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